My first cover for 2017 is my photo of Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook. I took this photo on assignment for Nike/Jordan. Since the award was during the middle of the basketball season, it was difficult to schedule a photo shoot with the Thunder star, we we pulled some photos from my archives.
I spent several hours photographing Russell at Oklahoma City’s Penn Square Mall for his Nike/Jordan shoe launch. I was impressed with how nice Westbrook was to all the people behind the scenes, as well as to his fans. He ended up staying much longer than required to make sure he was able to sign plenty of autographs. He always had a smile and a pleasant demeanor, despite the demands on his time and the legions of fans wanting “selfies” with the NBA star. I realized once again that superstars can also be super nice people, just like other people I meet on a regular basis. Russell Westbrook fits right in with our Oklahoma friendliness. We are lucky to have him in our state.
